ATHEX: Traders buy into prospect of agreement

Traders appeared optimistic on Friday that a deal would be reached between Athens and its creditors over the weekend, sending the Greek bourse benchmark more than 2 percent higher in the session’s last couple of hours. However, they weren’t prepared to stake too much on it, keeping trading volume at particularly low levels.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 797.52 points, adding 2.03 percent to Thursday’s 781.68 points. On a weekly basis it advanced 16.03 percent, putting an end to the four-week losing streak.

The large-cap FTSE/ATHEX 25 index expanded 1.62 percent to close at 241.22 points.

Alpha Bank was by far the best off among blue chips, adding 12.98 percent, while Eurobank climbed 6.67 percent and Piraeus Bank increased 5.82 percent.

EYDAP, which saw 60 million euros of its reserves taken by the government to be placed in the Bank of Greece account for the payment of pensions, lost 3.15 percent.

In total 61 stocks saw gains, 32 recorded losses and 21 closed unchanged.

Turnover was the lowest of the last 12 sessions, amounting to 62.9 million euros, down from Thursday’s 94.8 million.